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Last year, the state held nine recall elections for state senators, two of whom were unseated. This year, Wisconsin could hold six more recalls in the spring or summer, potentially unseating the Republican governor and lieutenant governor, who are only one year into their four-year terms, plus four more GOP state senators — not because they're corrupt but because they pushed through laws limiting the benefits and bargaining rights of public employees. Democrats and unions retaliated, so the fight is on, with governing on hold.

If there's such a thing as too much democracy, this might be it.

Elections are meant to settle political arguments for long enough to give the victors a chance to implement their policies and give them a chance to work, or not. The last thing voters should want is more politicians who are too timid to make hard but necessary choices because they fear losing their jobs. Such timidity is a big part of the reason why some states and the federal government are drowning in deficits and debt; too few officeholders dare tell voters that programs must be cut back or taxes raised. Recall elections merely intensify the fright.

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Of the 19 states that allow recall of governors and other state officials, eight lay out strict requirements, such as corruption, misconduct or violation of the oath of office. That's sensible.

Wisconsin, on the other hand, is one of 11 states that allow voters to fire an officeholder for virtually any reason.

Another is California, which recalled Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 and replaced him with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, with similarly unproductive results.

In Wisconsin, Democrats and unions argue that Gov. Scott Walker overplayed his hand after the 2010 elections by campaigning as moderate and then governing like a radical.

But Walker came into office confronting what neutral arbiters such as PolitiFact Wisconsin agree was a sizable budget deficit, and he took action to reduce it. Some of what he did, such as requiring public employees to contribute more of the cost of their health insurance, made sense. Other actions, such as tax cuts for business, are likely to make the fiscal problem worse. Regardless, in the absence of egregious misconduct, the time to put the question to voters is the next regularly scheduled elections.

Tedium is the least of it, though. As long as the validation process continues, the state's usual campaign-finance limits are suspended for candidates facing recall, making the extra elections a magnet for special-interest money.

Walker has been traveling the country and has raised more than $12 million, much of it in huge chunks from wealthy donors. Last year, so much special interest-money poured into the state from conservative groups and pro-union organizations for the nine recall elections that it roughly doubled the amount spent on all 116 of the state's 2010 legislative elections.

Wisconsin Democrats and union supporters who are driving the recall campaign feel battered by the Republican wave in 2010 that changed their world. But costly do-overs, permanent campaigns and endless elections are more than the state, or voters anywhere, should have to bear.

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